Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1966-10-20, Page 4.............................. . .1 ............ ................. . ...... . ...... ....,..,.... • ... , .... . .. Overcome temporary pressures? In April, 1964, this newspaper car- ried an account of a Grand Bend coun- cil meeting which stated that council admitted that the village refuse ground in 'Bosanquet Township posed a major threat to the entire lakeshore area and it was agreed to look into acquiring an- other site. At that time we heartily endorsed the action of the resort council, noting that no group would better appreciate the value of the Pinery and its attrac- tion to tourists and summer residents alike. To refresh some memories, the promise made by council had been tak- en after several acres of trees in the vicinity of the dump had been de- stroyed by fire and several homes in the vicinity—and for that matter, right up to the resort itself—had been seri- ously threatened. This newspaper expressed hope at that time that the consideration prom- ised by council would be the honest kind, one that leads to action, rather than the pigeon-hole type which politi- cians sometimes use to overcome tem- porary pressures. We concluded with these words; "Finding another location for a muni- cipal dump may not be easy, but it must be done. It's folly to endanger one of this region's finest natural resources for the sake of a place to put gar- bage". At the present time, the disposi- tion of the Grand Bend dump is before the courts as a result of legal action started by the Township of Bosanquet, who this year passed a bylaw prohibit- ing the dumping of garbage within that municipality, Who is right and who is wrong will apparently be up to the courts to decide, but in view of promises made in 1964, it is difficult to understand why the situation has now become a legal issue. By Val Baltkalns 716emie de waft de 44 Thanksgiving is the best Just a word to the wise Although the bicycle season will soon be curtailed for the summer months, it is not too late to cite the dangerous manner in which many lo- cal youngsters cavort on their two- wheeled outfits. Anyone who has attempted to drive down Victoria Street after classes at the Exeter Public School have been dismissed will probably realize that words can really not describe some of the actions pulled off by the young- sters. We had occasion to be in that vi- cinity recently and witnessed the fol- lowing: children riding five abreast down the street, crossing over the street without even a quick glance over their shoulders, doing U-turns in the middle of the road, and riding on the sidewalk. Fortunately, we have had few ac- cidents involving youngsters on bi- cycles, but it is always more good luck than good management, and it is for- tunate that most area drivers appear to give bike riders the cautionary ap- proach that is obviously needed. The instruction for youngsters should certainly come from parents, but they can certainly do with some assistance. Many schools, in conjunc- tion with local service clubs or the police department, have periodic bi- cycle rodeos that not only permit some competition among youngsters, but in addition point up the many rules of the road and the necessity of obeying them. Such a venture appears warranted in this community along with frequent reminders from parents and teachers that riding a bicycle brings with it many responsibilities, with failure to carry them out resulting in catastro- phes. This appears to be a worthwhile project for the council's protection to persons and property committee to un- dertake and we're certain that through leadership, many local groups would be happy to assist in whatever ways ap- pear necessary. It is rather folly to expect young- sters to know the rules of the road with- out some expert instruction. After all, many of their elders don't know them either. Many people will be celebrating anniversaries of various nature within the next few days. Most of the anniver- saries will be enjoyable, but for five youths, the event they mark will be in recollection of unpleasantness. It was about one year ago that five area youths were charged with mali- cious damage — coinciding as such things often do, with an annual occur- rence known as Hallowe'en. We have no intention of recalling the names of the lads. involved, or even the incident. But with Hallowe'en rolling around again, the outcome should certainly be borne in mind by all youths who answer the urge to get out and do some mischief. In addition, remembering that the lads paid a total of $600 in fines, it might be well for some parents to do some thinking as well, unless they or their offspring are in a financial position to squander money needlessly on fines. At a time when teenagers are be- ing criticized from all corners, it is well to point out that few of them are different than their elders were during those younger days. In fact, the key to the situation is that our police have become better equipped than they were in pa's days, and our lines of communi- cation are much more complex, so acts of today are known by all. There are two things we trust area youths will remember in the next few days. They may not pull off any stunts worse than dad did, but their chances of being caught are much greater. If they are caught, they have am- ple precedent to know that their ac- tions will be severely dealt with by the courts. If you don't believe us, just ask the five area lads who found out from experience last year. They even ended up with criminal records for their thoughtlessness. We are not gullible enough to think that this editorial will be read by many of the youths who will be wandering the streets on Hallowe'en. But we do suggest that it may pay dividends for some parents to bring it to their attention. Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 `fie exciferZimes-Usoate SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND Member: C,W.N.A., O.W.N.A., C.C.N.R. and ABC Publishers: J. M. Southcott, R. M. Southcott Editor: Bill Batten Advertising Manager: Val Baltkalns Phone 235-1331 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ont. Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Dept, Ottawa, and for Payment of Postage In Cash Paid in Advance Circulation, March 31, 1966, 4,180 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $5.00 Per Year; USA $7.00 ...... ......... • ...... ' . One -.04101:$ opinion troos $0110C dyne ...... Bright enough? Mud makes GB site look good No better than elders We're not certain who penned the old adage about the best laid plans of men and mice sometimes going astray, but we have reason to believe it was someone con- nected with the International Plowing Match. This is an event that has often seen the weather dash its suc- cesses, but perhaps there have been few times when it was quite as significant as this year's event in Seaforth. According to the description found in our trusty dictionary, the grounds at Seaforth couldn't even be listed as a quagmire. A quagmire is described by Web- ster as soft, wet miry land which yields under the foot. Certainly this was not the case on Thursday during our visit to the Match. The land was yielding right up to the knee in some places, let alone just under the foot. The weather for outdoor events at this time of year is always a calculated risk, but certai n1 y there was no calculating the a- mount of bad weather that was to show once again that nature holds the upper hand in much of our life. The bad weather, of course, was a keen disappointment to Match officials who had expend- ed countless hours in ensuring the success of this year's event. There was every indication that it would be the most successful on record, and those who worked to that end are to be highly commended. * * * * While the ankle deep mud made our tour of the grounds extreme- 50 YEARS AGO The household effects of Dan Hartleib were sold by auction Friday with the house and prop- erty being sold to Ed Treble for $325. Messrs. Alfred Wuerth, Free- man Morlock, Erwin Fahner and Sylvester W u e r t h of Crediton spent the weekend in Detroit. Mr. William Andrews has pur- chased the fine brick residence of Mr. W. B. Levett on the corner of William and North Streets. 25 YEARS AGO Over twelve hundred people were fed at the hot goose supper provided by the ladies of the EIJB church, Crediton, Thursday evening. The net proceeds for the evening are close to $600. Mr. John Dawson, meter repair man at the Exeter Hydro Office, moved to Woodstock last week where he has secured a position With the Woodstock Hydro. Lorne Passmore of Usborne won second prize in the tractor class at the International plowing match at Peterborough last Wed- nesday. Mr. 0, A. Martin, who for the past three years has been station master at the EXeter depot, has accepted a similar position at Harriston. ly risky —and briefer than we had expected — some of the exhibits erected by various organizations within the county were among the highlights we did see. One of the exhibits also pro- vided a bit of a paradox. The hogs in the Hog Producers' show- ing were much cleaner than most of the people watching them. The three buildings showing exhibits of county livestock, pro- duce and items from the museum were the most crowded of any we saw, but this may have been due in no small part to the fact they were near the front gate and offered welcome shelter from the elements. We never did see any plowing, other than a brief stop to watch some horses pulling plows in a field near the main road into the tented city. This, of course, is one of the oddities of the International Plowing Match. Only a small portion of those in attendance ever do see any plowing, re- gardless of the weather condi- tions. We came away from the Plow- ing Match thinking a bit about the events that brought it to Sea- forth. As readers may well re- call, the initiating action was brought about by the Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce, headed by Ory Wassmann, who is now reeve at the resort. Yours truly attended that first meeting when Ory and his fellow members pointed out that the Grand Bend air port would be an ideal site, as he explained that the tented city could be erected 15 YEARS AGO John Armstrong, ex-reeve of Hullett Township, and, who two years ago was warden of Huron County, was chosen as the liberal candidate to contest the riding of Huron in the forthcoming pro- vincial election at a rally of the Liberals that packed the Hen- sall Town Hall Tuesday evening. Mr. and Mrs. J, T, Allison of Thames Road celebrated their sixty-first wedding anniversary on Tuesday. Grand Champion of the WOAA baseball series, Exeter Bantams will be presented with their tro- phies at a theatre party Thurs- day evening in the Lyric Theatre. 10 YEARS AGO Mr. Andrew Johnston opened a new drug store in Exeter over the weekend between the Bell Telephone office and Snell Bros. Ltd. Messrs. Frank Taylor, George Lawson, Walter Cutbush and Al- fred Hunkin of the Exeter Senior Citizens Club attended the Central Zone conference held at Woodstock, Saturday. Exeter Curling Club staged Its first practice in the local arena Wednesday afternoon. Close to 40 4-II members from Huron County will compete in the Queen's Guineas class at the Royal Winter Fair next month, in such a way that pedestrian and vehicular traffic could use the runways, thus eliminating any problems if adverse weather con- ditions did prevail. The reasons why Grand Bend was not chosen were never really aired in the dispute that followed when Seaforth was picked, but whatever they were, the circum- stances that befell the 1966 Match will prove that those reasons were not as valid as the con- sideration cited by the Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce in promoting their site. However, the resort group will be able to make their point more emphatic in the future — perhaps even to the point of extending an invitation to make the old air field a permanent site for the match. LETTERS T.% EDITOR Smiley rebuked Dear sir, I couldn't resist Mr. Smiley's request for opinions on boys' long hair so I decided to write to my editor. I can take long hair or leave it. It neither enthralls nor repels me, but I do believe in personal freedom, and I feel that that freedom extends to the length and style of your haircut, Perhaps if we followed the pol- icy of live and let live it would be better. If some boys want to wear their hair long then it is all right with me. The choice is entirely theirs. We have a few shaggies at South Huron District High, and I feel that our principal, Mr. Palmer, is to be commended for his lack of action. He has said nothing, to my knowledge, to them, and thus has eliminated any hard feelings that might have occurred had hetaken any decisive action. All of this fuss that some prin- cipals create merely lends a phony prestige to the fad, It did infuriate me, however, when Smiley said (referring to Sir John A. Macdonald and Einstein) that they probably "didn't spend several hours a day combing and admiring their locks". Is he insinuating that long hair- ed boys are the only members of the male sex who work foolish- ly on their hair? He had better take a long, hard look at the older, "more sensible" meni Many "hair stylists', (a new term for the old barber) are opening shops in Major urban centres where men have hair- cuts by appointment only. They employ hair netS and blowers along with regular barbers' tools in an effort to make their custom - ers satisfied. Such shops as the Brilminel Shop and Carusoe's in Toronto are geared not necessarily to- wards youth but towards the aver- age, middle aged, middle income Man. To top this off, The Miss Clair- A man visiting London, Eng- land found the weather much as he'd expected--dismal, rainy and generally unpleasant. He was sit- ting in a restaurant and said to his waiter, "What kind of weath- er can we expect today"? Without even glancing up the waiter replied, "Oh, it's going to be bright enough". That expression can be applied to life in general and when it is, it becomes a simple declaration of faith. It is the reasonable con- fidence of a believer in God — in the Father Jesus believed and trusted. Notice that this man didn't say it would be bright, He had seen too many days blanketed by fog to have been blithely opti- mistic but there was still a basic faith left. There is a fog over much of our common life too. There is a pride of intellect which keeps us from hearing what God has said and what He is saying in the events of our time. There is a pride of possession which leads to greed and an ar- rogant lack of concern for other people. It leads to self seeking, a sick status consciousness, a self centred conceit. There is a pride of race and nation which can very easily lead to hatred, violence and a pathetic yet threatening type of flag wav- ing. Witness the recent rebirth of Naziism in Germany and the right wing fanaticism in the U.S. Tnere is an obvious fallenness about human nature which we experience only too well in our- selves. So we often lose patience with ourselves. As we look out on our world we see this same fallenness and we lose patience with the management of our na- tion and world. Ultimately we lose patience with God because of His apparent lack of action and His apparent indifference. But He never does for us or for our world what he has given us the power to do ourselves. As someone has said we must not expect God to miraculously solve all our problems — "No bread is expected to fall from heaven to relieve us of the task of teaching man to provide his own: no angel with a flaming sword will appear to halt our As a Canadian, what is your favor. ite holiday in the year? Think carefully, now. (No ob- jection to Yanks playing the game.) Originally, our holidays had religious overtones. Hence, the term holy days: Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving. Then we developed patriotic -- or, if you prefer political holidays. These include such stirring times as Dominion Day, now better known as The First of July; British Empire and Com- monwealth and The Queen's Bir- thday; Armistice or Remem- brance Day. Finally, we have a few pure pagan holidays tossed in; Labor Day; Civic Holiday and New Year's Day. Well, let's start at the bottom, and eliminate, Civic Holiday has no significance whatever. It's the day on which everyone gets out of town for the weekend, except the local merchants, who are supposed to get a civic holi- day, but spend it working like mad at the service club carni- val, raising money for some worthy cause. It isn't even a national holiday. Big-city stores ignore it. Labor Day, as we all know, far from being a tribute to or- ganized labor, is a day on which nobody does a tap of work, ex- cept for getting their kids ready for school, or closing up the cot- tage. The next in insignificance is difficult to choose. We have Do- minion Day, of course. Once it was a day of horse races, pic- nics, boat excursions, and speeches in the park. Now it is merely a day which, annoy- ingly, doesn't always fail on a Monday or Friday. And we have that whatever-it- is Day in May. It used to be Queen Victoria's Birthday. In the morning trees were planted. For the rest of the day, and night, you burned your fingers of Co. recently advertised Great Day hair colouring for men in Look and Sports Illustrated ma- gazines. Great Day is designed for the man Who, for some reason does not want his grey hair to show. So let's stop criticizing the youth for their long hair (the fad will probably Soon blow over); we may find the middle aged man Will become more of a concern than we now anticipate, Bill Jeffery wars of destruction". That is so and yet we must not succumb to the deadening cynicism which would go on to say that because of all these things all the efforts that are being made today to create a better world for people are doomed to failure. Things can be bright enough if we have the Insight to see that God has a purpose for us and for our world. If we see that fallenness and pride' and failure are never the last word. If we see that His purpose is love and life not hatred and death. Even with regard to elusive peace, even with regard to the attempts to meet the problems of hunger and disease there is reason for hope. Here too things can be bright enough. We need to keep all the facts in perspective here too there are redeeming features. One man who has spent most of his life in international ser- vice has said, "The ideals of Christian social action have been incorporated into our social structures to an extent never before experienced and at a rate unprecedented in history. "Peace Is not simply the ab- sence of war. Peace cannot sur- vive in a vacuum. It has to have the air of freedom, the nourish- ment of proteins, the warmth of clothing and housing, the oppor- tunity to work, the means to communicate. "Our present world problems have been with us from time immemorial. But never until the twentieth century have the gov- ernments of the world sat down together to take action and to take if fast". In other words there is bright- ness enough in this area too. Surely each of us in the light of our own experience can find enough light to affirm there will be enough bright intervals in the darkness of our world to keep us going. In these days of fear and change we all need the inner serenity, the inner stability, the inner steadfastness which we see ex- pressed in Jesus' life again and again. We must be concerned, in- volved, active — yes, But rattled, panicky, shook up, scared — no. on firecrackers and your eye- brows on Roman Candles. I guess what we're supposed to do now is sit around and think of our Commonwealth brother in Zam- bia and Senegal, or the Queen, whose birthday is in another month, or something? What we actually do is open the cottage or go fishing. And then of course, there is New Year's Day. Hangovers and broken resolutions. Actually, New Year's depends on how fer- vently you first-footed it on the preceding eve. It can be as bleak as a beverage room, or as ram- bunctious as a rooster. But a- head of it there lie three cold, dark dreary and deadly months of winter. The two saddest holidays of the year are Remembrance Day and Good Friday. And, appropri- ately, they come at the most dis- mal times of the year. On Nov. 11th, the sky weeps, the widows and mothers weep, the flags droop at half-mast and the bells toll. The only joint in town that jumps is the Legion Hall. After the solemn rites have ended, old cronies gather to ex- change lies, enjoy good food and drink, and listen to the inevitable speaker trying to convince them it was all worth-while. GoOd Friday is gloom, dark- ness and bitter wind, remnants of snow drifts. A day of death, sacrifice and sorrow. Cold, cold, and the earth is dead and frozen. Christmas is another thing. A season of peace and joy on earth with goodwill toward men, ac- cording to the ads and the in- terminable carols. But, let's be honest. By the time The Day haS arrived, you are baffled, bushed and broke. That leaves nothing else but Thanksgiving. That's my choice, every year. It's the best Cana- dian holiday, and we had a won- derful one this year. First, there are the physical delights. Weather is usually fine —brisk and bright. Scenery is magnificient: blue, bronze and crimson. Blood bubbles in the veins. Fire feels good. Food tastes like never before. Lungs lap clean air. Sleep is sweet, smooth and as dreamless as Whipped honey. And then there's the thanks- giving itself. Thanks for good health, Thanks I'm alive. Thanks fOr children. Thanks for a good harvest, or fat beef, or a steady job. Thanks for a chance to go on living through another year of those other holidays until I Can say thanks again. 444.14.14+1444.myAve.,vMM+141Mii+PH+1 H+,..,y• ., •